ABC notation is the simple text-based notation system used by musicians worldwide to store chords, melody, and lyrics of songs. Save Song as ABC Notation File allows you to save the song as an ABC notation file. Saving Song as MusicXML: Band-in-a-Box supports MusicXML so you can easily export your Band-in-a-Box songs into notation programs such as Finale, Sibelius, and Guitar Pro, while still retaining the chords from the Band-in-a-Box song. See the settings in the Preferences dialog box to control how the Melody, Solo, and Harmony are written to a MIDI file. You can save in Type 1 (multi-tracks) or Type 0 (single track) files. Save Song as MIDI File allows you to save the song as a standarMIDI file. Save Special opens a submenu for saving songs. lets you save the current song using the file dialog to name the file and choose a folder for the saved file. Save lets you save the current song to the same folder with the same file name. Revert to saved abandons your edits and reverts to the previously saved song. The button loads the demo song for the current style. This feature is also available with a click on the name of the style, which opens the StylePicker. Load Style Demo for Current Style loads the demo song for the currently loaded style. Open Audio Filea allows you to open an audio file to the Audio track. Open ABC Notation Music File allows you to import an ABC notation file.
Open MusicXML File allows you to import a MusicXML File from your notation programs such as Finale, Sibelius, and Guitar Pro to Band-in-a-Box. Open Enter MIDI File to Melody Track allows you to open a MIDI file to extract the data to the Melody track. Open SongPicker in Favorite Folder launches the Favorite Folder dialog which allows you to choose any previously used folder where a song was loaded from, and then open the SongPicker in that folder. Open SongPicker in Home Folder opens the SongPicker in the home folder, which is Applications/Band-in-a-Box/Songs or as set in the SongPicker. Open SongPicker in Current Folder opens the SongPicker in the current folder of the last loaded song. You can also search songs that have similar chord progressions or melody fragments. It has many filter features for finding songs. Open Song by Title opens the SongPicker, which shows information for up to 60,000 songs.
Open Entire Karaoke (kar) File to Melody track allows you to open a Karaoke file to extract the data to the Melody track. Open from Favorite Folders… opens a list of recently used folders for quick access. Open Favorite Songs opens the dialog listing the last 150 songs played. Open Song with Melody lists only the songs in a folder with melodies (*.mg?). Open Filtered by Stylelists only the songs in a folder with current style. For example, if the song loaded has a file name of “Paul,” then choosing Open Next Song will find the next file in alphabetical order after Paul maybe it would be “Peter.” The hot keys for this are shift+F8 and control+shift+F. Open Next Song and Open Previous Songwill open the next/previous song in alphabetical order. Open Songis used to open an existing song. New is used to blank the Chord Sheet and start a new song. Quit Band-in-a-Box-64x exits the program.
Hide Others / Show All either shows or hides other open windows and applications. Restore it by clicking the Band-in-a-Box icon on the dock. Hide Band-in-a-Box will minimize the Band-in-a-Box window. Services will open a submenu of the available services in the operating system.
This can be a way of removing unwanted settings for a “fresh start.” If this file is removed the program will require the same setup as when it was first installed. The settings are all saved in the /Band-in-a-Box/Preferences folder in a file named Band-in-a-Box Preferences_X86. Preferences opens the Preferences dialog to set the user options for the program. User can check/download/pause/continue/install for a newer version (not free), newer build (free), and updated RealTracks files (free). There is also contact information for PG Music Inc., technical support, and the PG Music web page, Check for Updates: About Band-in-a-Box gives important program information such as the version and build and the people who make it possible.